The sad demise of Jhonny Carson has left many of us struck at the thought that a fixture in ones life has now ended. Many decades back when I was in graduate school I looked forward to his TO Night Show as I walked home across the Campus. The thought of the familiar face waiting at the end of a hard and busy day was not only encouraging but also cheering after a Hard days work and study. Carson's humour was one of a kind. Never mean spirited and not always genteel. Yet he brought a touch of...

The movie Casablanca is a classic and like all classics its appeal is timeless. Though the movie was shot in 1940, obviously before Pearl Harbour, the acting of Ingrid Bergman and Humpher Bogard have great contemporary relevance. Playing the role of a cynical, saloon keeper Bogard as Richard or Rick puts on an air of studied indifference to the important political and moral issues before him. One can quite easily get the impression that Rick is a cardboard hero. But that would be a wrong asse...